Welch & Forbes LLC Sells 16,523 Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Welch & Forbes LLC cut its stake in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 17.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 78,344 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 16,523 shares during the period. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Fortive were worth $5,876,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of FTV. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its position in Fortive by 14,635.7% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,000,000 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $315,720,000 after buying an additional 3,972,855 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in Fortive by 1,005.9% in the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,937,153 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $152,899,000 after buying an additional 1,761,983 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in Fortive by 13.8% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 8,041,324 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $634,701,000 after buying an additional 977,428 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP lifted its position in Fortive by 1,014.1% in the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 924,671 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $72,984,000 after buying an additional 841,671 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in Fortive by 59.3% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,359,069 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $107,271,000 after buying an additional 505,882 shares during the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortive

In other Fortive news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 5,688 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.52, for a total value of $457,997.76. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 47,141 shares in the company, valued at $3,795,793.32. The trade was a 10.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO James A. Lico sold 196,117 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.38, for a total value of $15,763,884.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 528,851 shares in the company, valued at $42,509,043.38. This trade represents a 27.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 243,385 shares of company stock worth $19,508,529 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on FTV shares. UBS Group started coverage on Fortive in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $84.00 price target for the company. Barclays decreased their target price on Fortive from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Fortive from $77.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Fortive from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $92.00 to $86.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.64.

Fortive Stock Performance

Shares of Fortive stock opened at $76.58 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $26.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Fortive Co. has a 12 month low of $66.15 and a 12 month high of $87.10. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $78.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $76.76.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The technology company reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.05. Fortive had a return on equity of 13.15% and a net margin of 13.36%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Fortive Co. will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.56%.

Fortive Company Profile

Fortive Corporation designs, develops, manufactures, and services professional and engineered products, software, and services in the United States, China, and internationally. It operates in three segments: Intelligent Operating Solutions, Precision Technologies, and Advanced Healthcare Solutions. The Intelligent Operating Solutions segment provides advanced instrumentation, software, and services, including electrical test and measurement, facility and asset lifecycle software applications, and connected worker safety and compliance solutions for manufacturing, process industries, healthcare, utilities and power, communications and electronics, and other industries.